Blog

I ran the Cape Town Marathon at the weekend. It was a lovely race, not as beautiful as the Two Oceans race, but there were moments of beauty when you looked up at Table Mountain and Signal Hill. But this blog isn’t about the race I ran. It's about what the race taught me about running my own business.

As a perceived stay-at-home mom, I am often asked what I do for a living. My response is very honest and enthusiastic as I say ‘I am a Virtual Assistant!’. And every time this scenario happens, I expect them to exclaim the wonders of a VA, how magnificent a role it is for the future of business, and how great virtual assistants are. But no. Instead, I am hit with a blank stare, followed by a confused ‘Sorry, you’re a what?’. So, I take a deep breath, compose myself and explain my profession, and they reply ‘Oh wow, I have never heard of that before’ followed by awkward silence and most certainly a change of subject. I can just imagine what they are actually thinking: ‘What a lowly job’; ‘She must be picking at straws’; ‘She should probably dedicate more time to her kids’; ‘Who would ever need or use THAT?’.

Let’s be frank – our schooling system does not teach students life lessons that will stand them in good stead for the business world. Some things you can, and will, only learn with time on the job; other things you can learn by others’ experiences of the real-world!

Here are 24 things I wish school taught me…I would’ve been so much more productive earlier on in my career.